A federal judge in Boston on Tuesday rejected a request from the husband of actress Lori Loughlin to serve the remainder of his five-month prison term for his role in the Varsity Blues college admissions scandal at home in the couple’s Los Angeles mansion, writing that granting such a motion would “undercut” efforts to deter other wealthy people from committing similar crimes.
In an eight-page ruling, US District Court Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton denied the request from Loughlin’s spouse, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, 57. A spokesperson for Giannulli’s legal team didn’t immediately return an email seeking comment.
Gorton wrote that “a 5-month sentence is appropriate in that it serves, inter alia, to dissuade and deter others who may, like Giannulli, believe that because they can afford it, they can flout the law. Modifying or reducing defendant’s sentence in this case would undercut any such deterrence. Accordingly, this Court will deny defendant’s motion for compassionate release.”
Giannulli’s currently incarcerated in the minimum security work camp at USP Lompoc in Lompoc, Cali., with a release date scheduled for April 17, according to legal filings and the Federal Bureau of Prisons website.
He and Loughlin, a pop culture icon whose role as Aunt Becky on the sitcom “Full House” endeared her to millions, both pleaded guilty in May to conspiracy-related charges for agreeing to pay bribes totaling $500,000 to get their daughters into the University of Southern California as phony athletic recruits.
Gorton later sentenced Loughlin to serve two months behind bars, while slapping Giannulli with the longer sentence. Loughlin left the joint in late December.
Lawyers for Giannulli earlier this month had filed a motion seeking home confinement for the remainder of the fashionista’s sentence, writing that when he arrived at the Lompoc lockup on Nov. 19, he expected to be quarantined with other minimum security prisoners for a short time before testing negative for COVID and being released to the minimum security camp.
“Instead, Mr. Giannulli was immediately placed in solitary confinement in a small cell at the adjacent medium security penitentiary, 24 hours per day with only three short 20 minute breaks per week, where he remained for 56 days before finally being transferred to the camp yesterday (January 13),” his lawyers wrote.
They said the “conditions under which Mr. Giannulli has been incarcerated are far more extreme than what the Court recommended, what BOP be determined was appropriate based on his individual circumstances, or what is warranted by the circumstances of this case. ... The toll on Mr. Giannulli’s mental, physical, and emotional well-being has been significant.”
Gorton, in his ruling Tuesday, was unmoved.
“Giannulli is not entitled to a modification of his sentence pursuant to” federal law “because he has not demonstrated an ‘extraordinary and compelling’ reason warranting his release,” Gorton wrote. “Although the Court is cognizant of the onerous conditions imposed on defendant as a result of the BOP’s emergency COVID-19 response, he has not established that those conditions alone demonstrate an ‘extraordinary and compelling’ reason for his release.”
Loughlin and Giannulli are two of the dozens of people charged in connection with the scandal, in which prosecutors said wealthy parents paid bribes to the scheme’s admitted ringleader, William “Rick” Singer, to get their children falsely designated as athletic recruits at selective colleges, effectively paving their way to admission, or to facilitate cheating on the kids’ SAT and ACT exams.
Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @TAGlobe.